In
London, perhaps more than any other city, it’s in short supply. Narrow
streets hold tiny flats, squeezing inhabitants into a world of
claustrophobia and desperation. No wonder that it’s in the capital that the
most original music of recent years, dubstep, with its booming, echoing
spaces, first developed.

The XX are four kids (now three) who come from south London. They know dubstep. Their
eponymous album is 2009's best album. The XX takes us into the genre’s emotional
and physical space. Part bed-sit, part squat, its delicate love songs –
minimally laid out with soft beats and gentle synths - draw from avant-garde
hip-hop to R&B to pure pop.

Singles ‘Basic Space’ and ‘Crystallized’ are smoky duets dusted with an
insular intimacy. Nothing’s too much; and everything is needed - like we all
ask to be. But the beauty spills into richness, and this feels like diamonds
in the midst of grime.

2 Fuck Buttons-Tarot Sport (ATP)

3
Kathy Diamond-Miss Diamond to You (Permanent Vacation)

4
Animal Collective-Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)

5
The Mary Onettes-Islands (Labrador)

6
Tyondai Braxton-Central Market (Warp)

7
Wilco-Wilco (The Album) (Nonesuch)

8
Yeah Yeah Yeahs-It’s Blitz! (Interscope)

9
Various-5 Years of Hyperdub (Hyperdub)

10
Neko Case-Middle Cyclone (Anti-)

11
Joan As Police Woman-Cover (Reveal)

12
Raekwon-Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt 2 (EMI)

13
Avett Brothers-I And Love and You (Columbia)

14
M Ward-Hold Time (Merge)

15
Dinosaur Jr-Farm (Jagjaguwar)

16
David Bazan-Curse Your Branches (Barsuk)

17
Atlas Sound-Logos (Kranky)

18Japandroids-Post-Nothing (Unfamilar/Polyvinyl)

19
Bill Callahan-Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
(Drag City)

20
King Khan and the BBQ show-Invisible Girl (In The Red)

21
Woods-Songs of Shame (Shrimper/Woodsist)

22
Fontan-Winterhwila (Information)

23
Air-Love 2 (Astralwerks)

24
Richard Hawley-Truelove's Gutter (Mute)

25
Bowerbirds- Upper Air (Dead Oceans)

26
Girls-Album (True Panther/Matador)

27
Tortoise-Beacons of Ancestorship (Thrill Jockey)

28
Sunn O)))-Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)

29
Noah and the Whale-The First Days of Spring (Cherry Tree)

30
Dodos-Time to Die (Frenchkiss)

31
Mountain Goats-The Life of the World to Come (4AD)

32
Lindstrom & Prins Thomas-II (Eskimo)

33
Mindy Smith-Stupid Love (Vanguard)

34
Shugo Tokamaru-Rum Hee (Blues Interactions, Inc)

35
The Gossip-Music for Men (Columbia)

36
Grizzly Bear Veckatimest (Warp)

37
A.C. Newman-Get Guilty (Matador)

38
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart-The Pains of Being
Pure at Heart (Slumberland)